ORLANDO, Fla. — From New York City to Washington, D.C., A+ Teacher Lara McIvor has an extensive background in performing music and acting in the theater, but that's not the subject of her classes these days.

She teaches math and English language arts to advanced learners in the fifth grade at NorthLake Park Community School, using her background in music and theater to make learning fun and memorable.

"I thought I'd be hired as a reading teacher or something more theatrical or what have you, but I got hired for math and science, which ironically, when I was growing up, I'm like, ‘Oh my gosh, these are the two most boring subjects I've ever taken in my life,' " McIvor said.

"I'm like, well, why not flip the script and make math and science fun and engaging, and use music and storytelling and all these things to help engage the students?"

For example, when Spectrum News 13 stopped by her Cambridge math class, its student-run coffee business was fully operational.

"With running their own business, keeping inventory, and all those mathematical and management skills, creative skills with the web design, graphic design because once again, they own all that," McIvor said.

She sets the bar high, and her students stand up to meet the challenge.

"Because they're capable, and I think a lot of times before you raise the bar, you raise the floor, and you go ahead and give the benefit of the doubt that, yes absolutely you can learn this,” McIvor said. “It's so impressive in what they can learn on their own, and a lot of times, I think we kind of downgrade what our expectation is to suit all learners as to let them naturally rise and perhaps even teach a teacher something."